They’ve got nothing to smile about.
Once a Hollywood secret, veneers have become a symbol of aesthetic perfection, seemingly as “basic” as Botox and filler — but botched operations are leaving people in tears, pain and debt.
Influencers and celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Simon Cowell showcase dazzling, why-are-their-teeth-so-white smiles on the red carpet for jealous fans to see. But some stars have become a laughingstock as malicious memes mock them — comparing Jojo Siwa’s teeth to Chiclet candies, Steve Harvey’s to slices of onion, and former New York Jets football coach Rex Ryan’s to Spirit Halloween dentures.
However, many other people aren’t laughing.
For social media queen Alix Earle, the decision to get veneers will always be a bad one.
In an emotional TikTok video in July, Earle held back tears as she “fixed” a chipped veneer — shaving off a fine layer of cringe-inducing dust with a nail file and warning her followers, “I really regretted it right away.”
She claimed she felt pressured into getting more than she wanted, and what was supposed to be a simple cosmetic fix turned into what will be a lifelong struggle to maintain them — a reality that many patients don’t fully understand before opening wide.
Celebs including Demi Lovato, Bad Bunny and Kehlani have admitted to veneer regret themselves, yet many people today are still jumping into the dentist’s chair to fix small cosmetic embarrassments, only to be left with even bigger insecurities — not to mention bigger bills.
Taylor Brazinsky is one of many turning to social media to advise others against the procedure after suffering physically and financially; she told The Post she’s spent a whopping $30,000 to fix her $10,000 veneers.
She’d had braces twice but wasn’t happy with the uneven sizing of her teeth. When she was 19 years old, the New Jersey native, now 24, began searching online for solutions and ultimately opted for veneers.
She thought it would result in a dazzling smile — but it left her despondent instead.
“My mouth is permanently screwed up,” Brazinsky told The Post in defeat.
“I’m still insecure about my teeth because of everything that’s happened.”
Initially, Brazinsky wanted to get just four veneers to address her concerns, but when a Miami-based dentist offered her 10 teeth for $10,000 — the same price another dentist in Jacksonville, Florida, quoted her for a quartet — she decided to go for all 10.
That in itself should have been a red flag.
“I was, like, 19. So I was, like, ‘Oh my God, I’m getting veneers and, like, whatever, I’ll get all of them done,’” she said of her initial flippant attitude about the process.
But what seemed like an easy fix soon spiraled into a nightmare.
The procedure left the usual post-op swelling and discomfort, but about a year later, her gums began bleeding.
She developed black triangular gaps between her teeth — a sign of “biological wedge violation,” according to experts.
That occurs when veneers are applied incorrectly, a common problem causing the gums to react as though they’re trying to push a foreign object — in this case, the veneer — off the tooth.
As the situation worsened, Brazinsky was met with denial and dismissal from the dentist who initially performed the procedure.
“Every time I went back, they told me it was no big deal — and then they eventually ghosted me,” she said. After months of her concerns not being heard, she developed a painful gum infection.
Brazinsky shockingly discovered that the shady dentist who performed her procedure was unlicensed and had rebranded his business, leaving her with no recourse — an issue many others have reportedly experienced.
She tried reporting them to the Florida Department of Health, she claimed, “but they couldn’t do anything” since the statute of limitations there is only one year.
Brazinsky was forced to undergo multiple painful, corrective surgeries, including a crown lengthening that involved opening up her gums, shaving down bone, reattaching her gums, and applying another set of veneers.
The corrective treatments cost her more than triple her original bill. And she’s still not smiling — both because of the drama and how her teeth look.
“If you don’t have an actual dental issue, veneers are not worth it,” she said,
While veneers are often advertised as a quick and easy way to achieve the perfect smile, Brazinsky’s experience underscores how disastrous the wrong procedure can be.
While there is no centralized place for patients to log complaints about bad procedures, a growing chorus of people online are claiming to have suffered from complications such as gum infections, tooth sensitivity, chipping, falling out and even bad breath.
Doctors, including NYC-based Dr. Clement “Dr. Clem” Kairouz, said the veneer craze really took off after the COVID-19 pandemic, when people spent considerably more time on video calls.
“Everyone was staring at themselves on the screen, so people started nitpicking to perfection,” Kairouz told The Post.
He said he’s had to turn a lot of prospective patients away lately — because their perceived problems with their teeth don’t need the drastic fix they think they do.
While others do have serious problems that need correction, they don’t necessarily do proper research or save enough money to get them done properly.
Jennifer Peralta, 41, of Long Island, had a mouthful of subpar dental work left over from childhood and thought veneers would help. But in the hands of the wrong dentist, she found herself yet another bill to pay — and yet another problem to fix.
“It looked awful because it didn’t match with the rest of my smile,” she told The Post.
“It led to me feeling very insecure. I could not smile without thinking that everyone was staring,” she said. “For a good five years, I just didn’t smile at all.”
Eventually, she saved up enough money for another procedure with Kairouz.
“It really is such a life change,” Peralta said. “But if I didn’t have the need for them, I never would have ever gotten them,” she said.
Dr. Brian Kantor, who has transformed the smiles of many of the world’s best-known actors, models, rock stars and other public figures at his Central Park South practice, told The Post that when it comes to veneers, there’s no such thing as “one size fits all.”
“Having veneers is like having artwork in your mouth,” Kantor said. He explained that each tooth needs to be customized for each person — or it will “look ridiculous.”
When making a set of veneers, a doctor will take many aspects of that individual into account, he said, including the shape and size of their face, lip and smile lines, and more.
Most importantly, he noted, a proper practitioner will know when to tell a patient that they’re not a good candidate.
“If you don’t need them, you don’t need them,” Kairouz declared.
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